Homeless brothers whose dad was killed in 'zombie knife' attack jailed by South Tyneside magistrates
“This leaves them terrified of being apart. They only feel safe when in company together. It’s an exceptionally sad set of circumstances.”
Homeless brothers whose dad was killed in a knife attack and cannot now bear to be parted have been jailed minutes apart – one for driving offences in South Tyneside.
Nathaniel Wardle, 22, and Leon Wardle, 21, appeared one after the other in the dock to admit offences not linked and which happened eight months apart.
The older brother was brought before magistrates in South Tyneside first and admitted motoring offences committed in Cleadon at 3.45am Saturday, October 31.
Householders spotted him acting suspiciously in Sunniside Lane and he fled when police arrived but drove into a bush and was arrested, prosecutor Glenda Beck said.
He pleaded guilty to charges of failing to stop for police, driving without insurance and driving without a licence and was banned from driving for six months and fined.
But he was also imprisoned for a minimum of 56 days after being recalled on licence by the Probation Service for a separate offence.
Leon Wardle followed him into the dock to plead guilty to a charge of breach of a sexual risk order or interim sexual risk order.
He befriended a 16-year-old girl in Northumberland and her friends in a Facebook Messenger chat group in February.
They communicated in written messages but in a phone chat, he asked her to send him intimate photos of her, Mrs Beck said.
Mrs Beck said the girl had made her correct age known to him, but he had claimed to be a boy of 17, which she knew to be untrue when he sent his picture.
It is understood he has never been charged with any sexual offence and the risk order was put in place via a civil magistrates’ court procedure in December.
The order prohibits him from having any contact with a child aged under 18.
Mark Styles, who defended both brothers, described Nathanial Wardle’s motoring matters as being “relatively minor.
He added of his client, of no fixed abode: “His background, it’s a traumatic background.”
Magistrates also fined Nathaniel Wardle £120, with £85 court costs and an £85 victim surcharge.
Of Leon Wardle, also of no fixed abode, Mr Styles said: “I would ask that this court sentence Mr Wardle to prison.
“He asks this court to conclude that this does cross the custody threshold. He says that he’s desperate to go with his brother.
“They lost their father several years ago. He was unlawfully killed, a man was convicted of manslaughter.
“This happened in front of this defendant in the family home. He was killed with a zombie knife.
“They have a deep mistrust of authority around how the case was dealt with by the CPS and Northumbria Police.
“This leaves them terrified of being apart. They only feel safe when in company together. It’s an exceptionally sad set of circumstances.”
Magistrates jailed Leon Wardle for four months and ordered him to pay a £154 victim surcharge and £85 court costs.
An earlier hearing involving Nathaniel Wardle heard his father was killed in Wallsend in June 2022.